Unofficial news and tips about Google

October 11, 2007

From Google to Facebook

"On Friday July 13th, 2007 I resigned from Google in search of new challenges and risks. This was a hard decision to come to and I have been seriously thinking about it for the last few months. In the end I decided (with support from my wife) that I am at the point in my career where I can make risky decisions." [two months later...] "I'm now at facebook and love it! Well I've been here for 2 months now. I have the same kind of excitement about work that I had early on at Google. I can get lots and lots done and the only thing slowing me down is how quickly I can go. What we will do in the coming years is really exciting!" (Pedram Keyani, who left orkut for Facebook)

"A couple of months ago, after three years as a Google product manager, I decided to leave for Facebook. I am writing this note to spread Good News to all the friends I haven't already overwhelmed with my enthusiasm: Facebook really is That company. Which company? That one. That company that shows up once in a very long while -- the Google of yesterday, the Microsoft of long ago. (...) That company that's on the cusp of Changing The World, that's still small enough where each employee has a huge impact on the organization, where you think about working now and again, and where you know you'll kick yourself in three years if you don't jump on the bandwagon now, even after someone had told you that it was rolling toward the promised land." (Justin Rosenstein, ex-Googler)

Now the news is that Benjamin Ling, who worked on Google Checkout and Google SMS, left Google for Facebook. "Ling will be heading the Facebook platform, the software architecture upon which the popular social network is built."

While Facebook's recent growth influenced Google's plans in the social space, it's hard to move fast when you're expanding in so many directions. Organizational inertia can begin to set in, making new product launches more difficult. "People will say, 'That doesn't live up to Google's standards,'" says Mayer. "But, ultimately, Google's reputation becomes a burden," explained Marissa Mayer in a Business Week article from 2005. And Facebook could be just the right place for recreating the initial excitement of working for a company with big goals and challenging projects.